The Hooded One

what an interesting comparison

Fascinating letter to the editor in a northern Arizona newspaper yesterday:

Our neighbor, Mexico, has had a time-honored political practice known as “El Tapado,” the “hooded one.” Since 1929, Mexico's leftist ruling party, the PRI, has covertly selected a candidate for its next presidential election. With little political scrapping, few embarrassing public exchanges, and a great deal of hard-hitting, widespread propaganda, the “precandidate” suddenly comes to the fore. When the moment is right, usually shortly before election day, the ruling Party anoints its “Tapado” as the chosen candidate, without them receiving a single vote from Mexico’s citizens.

The PRI’s Tapados have ruled Mexico for almost 80 years. Though this monopoly was interrupted briefly in 2000, the PRI returned to power in 2012, albeit weaker in influence. History show that the Tapado practice has never benefited Mexico or its people. In fact, it is responsible for widespread popular cynicism, political apathy and deep corruption.

Is Kamala Harris the Democrat Party’s “Tapado?” Are we willing to accept the historic “palace coup” we’ve witnessed against Joe Biden (and I’m not a fan)? Are we inclined to tolerate the overthrow of a duly elected primary candidate and accept Harris’ “coronation,” when she was so unpopular that she dropped out in 2020?

Few embarrassing public exchanges…and a…great deal of hard-hitting, widespread…propaganda? Hmm.

Is this how our president will be chosen, from now on? (To protect Our Democracy™, of course.) Related:

So the party leaders choose their candidate without regard to the choices of party voters, then run a general election campaign with limited public interaction and carefully scripted events, while pressuring social media companies to throttle the public sphere and suing and petitioning to keep competing candidates off the ballot: Jill Stein, Cornel West, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Donald Trump.

How wonderfully progressive. How wonderfully democratic!